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Hear the devotional here: https://anchor.fm/eradio-valverde/episodes/The-Main-Event-e1senm6
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1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled. 2 This was the first enrollment, when Quirin'i-us was governor of Syria. 3 And all went to be enrolled, each to his own city. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. 6 And while they were there, the time came for her to be delivered. 7 And she gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. 8 And in that region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. 10 And the angel said to them, "Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; 11 for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased!" 15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us." 16 And they went with haste, and found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it they made known the saying which had been told them concerning this child; 18 and all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. (Luke 2:1-20 New International Version Bible)
Well, the World Cup is over, and Argentina are the world champions. It was a great game. I have to confess with this World Cup I started watching the entire games of those teams I was following. I was all for Mexico, USA, and Spain to win it all. And today I watched the extended play and penalty kick decided game with Argentina winning it by kicking more penalty kicks than France. It had been 38 years since Argentina had won it all, and the Telemundo announcer openly wept as he was able to say, "Argentina are the world champs!" He begged forgiveness, but he is from Argentina and is best known as the "Gooooooooool!" man. He's the main reason I followed each game en español rather than English. And apparently, so did many others who were not Spanish-speakers, including a cartoonist who asked, "What's the longest word in the Spanish language?" The answer: GOOOOOOOOOOOOOL! (That's a joke). And what made this game more exciting was there was a curse on Argentina that could not be broken. Well, it was, and we could say Leo Messi helped break it.
There was an event even bigger than the World Cup. The World Cup as you may or may not know, happens every four years, and the next one will be played in the USA, with the deciding and final game to be played at AT&T Stadium in Dallas. This event takes place in what many might say was the last place anyone would have chosen to set as the happening of this main event. Of course, we have a human mindset and we tend to expect things that are big, to be held in big cities. The event was the coming birth of the Savior of the world. Some would have suggested Rome to be the place for the baby to be born. And why not in the palace of Caesar? Or, at least in the palace in Jerusalem? The answer is that God is in charge and God does things His way. If it was politics you wanted in the story, read again. The government, aka Caesar Augustus, ordered a census to be taken, with every man should go to his own city. In my case, I would have had to return to Kingsville, Kleberg Country, Texas, to be "enrolled." In Joseph's case, he went up to Bethlehem ("The house of bread), the city of David. Add to this his emotional predicament; he was betrothed to Mary, meaning they had had the first required cremony required before the marriage; Mary took his last name, but would not yet be living together, but it would be a year in which she could change her mind and leave him, if she so chose. And we know that while they had not yet had sexual intercourse, she was pregnant with the child of God. And there, while enrolling in Bethlehem, it came time for Mary to deliver her child, and He was born.
The writer of this gospel has a universal approach to reporthing the Good News of Jesus Christ, which we can contrast with Matthew's. Matthew's main concern is sharing that Jesus was the fulfillment of the Jewish people. In Luke's sharing that those who visited Jesus were the shepherds, he is saying this birth involves the whole world including the common folk, like the shepherds, with whom most of the Israelites could identify, since they either had a shepherd in your family, or had been one yourself, or knew someone who did. Matthew shares the visit of the Magi, or Kings, as a fulfillment of the Old Testament prophcies which matter to the Jews. Luke sees the visit of the angels to the hardest working profession, as a sign of God's love and concern for all people. The shepherds celebrate that God saw fit to let them know of what He was about to do in Israel.
Dear ones, the greatest gift of Christmas is the gift of God shared iwth us in giving us His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. It was precisely this event that made the late Rev. Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, during this time of year at a corner in a busy Christmas season in Manhattan to quip, "All this, the decorations, the traffic, the people, because of one little baby's birth two thousand years ago." Let us, like Rev. Peale, not lose sight of how important and how powerful was this birth. It was God bringing to us, life and the fullness thereof.
PRAYER: Loving God, blessed in Thy holy name. May the tinsel, the trees, the traffic, the gift buying, the gift giving and receiving, not distract us from how important we are to God and for all that God did for us; in Christ Jesus we pray, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! YOUR CALL TO ACTION: Share the joy of Christ in your heart with all today!
Receive my blessings of joy and peace,
Pastor Eradio Valverde, Jr.
